The Sunday after their first Hogsmeade trip was one that Myr had hoped would be rather quiet. His roommates would be busy with their new purchases, or perhaps exhausted from the excitement of the previous day, and he would get some time to hear himself think.

However, with a group of roommates like his, there is such a thing as too quiet. The sort of quiet that comes just before everything goes to heck.

The Sunday after their first Hogsmeade trip is exactly this kind of quiet, and it's putting Myr on edge.

Both Brandon and Charlie are conspicuously absent when he wakes up that morning, and more concerning is that Remi has vanished as well. Drake at least is still passed out in his bunk by the window, snoring softly, which Myr is rather glad for once he's processed the otherwise empty room and immediately begins to worry.

He can't believe he'd forgotten that Hogsmeade means Zonko's. And knowing his dorm mates the way he does, he's confident they all have plans for the day that in no way include Myr's sanity being maintained.

He wonders if he can somehow fall back asleep and avoid the day all together, but now that the thought has crossed his mind he know it will keep him awake and worrying regardless of what he wants. So he heaves a sigh and swings his legs out of bed, nearly kicking Owen in the face in the process.

"Oh jeez, sorry buddy. I didn't realize you were there." He apologizes, though Owen doesn't seem to mind as he mewls happily and winds around Myr's feet in greeting. "Yeah, hi to you too. You enjoying your new freedom?"

Owen of course doesn't respond, instead turning and bouncing back out of the room, his tail held high, apparently having accomplished what he'd come in to do.

"Good to see you too." Myr can't help but grin wryly at his cat's antics. He's missed seeing his kitten every day, but from the times he's run into Owen the cat seems quite pleased with his new lot in life, so Myr doesn't regret the decision too much. He's just hopeful getting Owen home won't be a problem when Christmas break rolls around.

Myr dresses quickly and heads down to the common room, hoping to find his roommates there, playing chess or Exploding Snap, but of course he has no such luck. Only a lone toad, one of the fifth years' he thinks, sits on a table near the couches.

"Great." He mumbles to himself. "Now I have to go find them and make sure they don't lose any House points."

He makes his way down to the Great Hall to grab something light for breakfast before beginning the hunt for his roommates in earnest. He checks their usual haunts around Filch's office and in an abandoned seventh floor classroom as well as a few more general locations like the library and courtyard, all with no luck. He's starting to genuinely fret when he hears Aidan's voice coming from one of the many dungeon corridors and he rushes to locate the source. Where one ABC member is, usually all of them are.

Sure enough, and thankfully, Brandon and Charlie are present. However, the usual air of mischief and curiosity that surrounds the boys is noticeably absent, and Myr slows down as he approaches them, his momentarily appeased nerves flaring up again.

"Come on, it was just a prank Aidan. You engage in plenty of those yourself." Brandon grumbles, clearly annoyed.

"Mine don't involve hurting innocent animals!" Aidan snaps back. "And you're really lucky I'm second in the year because goodness knows your Transfiguration abilities would have never been able to undo the damages you caused!"

"Hey!" Now Brandon is getting angry. "Just because I'm not a huge nerd-"

"Guys, it was a mistake, yeah? Can't we all just apologize?" Charlie asks hopefully. "Brandon, you messed up, you get that, but Aidan, you can see he really didn't mean any harm, right?"

But both boys continue glaring at each other, either oblivious too or purposefully ignoring Charlie's attempts at mediating.

"Um, is everything okay?" Myr finally speaks up, and Charlie looks over thankfully.

"Myr! Hey, yeah, it's fine. Brandon transfigured Cerid into a teacup and then couldn't get her back, but she's fine now." He explains quickly. "Any chance you could talk to them? They keep expecting me to take a side."

Myr chews at the inside of his lip. He doesn't really want to get in the middle of a fight, especially not a fight between best friends, but at the same time he doesn't like the idea of just walking away either.

"Um, it sounds like it was an honest mistake?" He ventures uncertainly.

"Myr come on, you of everyone should understand my side! What if this had happened to Owen?" Aidan protests, and Myr holds up his hands in defense.

"Look I don't want to get into a fight okay? I'd be mad if something happened to Owen, but as long as the person responsible owned up and promised not to do it again, and Owen was safe, I think that would be enough?"

"Excuse me? 'Owned up'?" Brandon mimics, and Myr knows he made the wrong choice when he decided to try and get involved. "It was just a prank. No one got hurt, he just can't take a joke!"

"Your joke could have killed Cerid!" Aidan snaps, and just like that they're locked back into their glaring contest.

Charlie sighs. "Okay, I'm going to leave you two alone to figure this out. Come on Myr, I think I saw Remi and Tyler going towards the Quidditch pitch, and I don't trust their intentions."

Myr is surprised to hear Charlie worrying about potential rule-breaking, and he can't help mentioning it as they head outside.

"Oh, well, the twins became absolute monsters this summer and it got me thinking about how we might be perceived by other people, and how our pranks might accidentally hurt others instead of helping them." He waves vaguely. "I mean, don't get me wrong, Fred and George are pretty funny most of the time, but I've had to calm Percy down from near panic attacks a few times because they took things too far. So yeah. It got me thinking."

Myr raises an eyebrow. "Wow, that... sounds like a lot of work. Didn't Bill help at all?"

"He was usually helping Mum and Dad with Ginny and Ron. Percy helps them out too, but he's only ten you know? He can only do so much really." Charlie looks a bit down, but before  Myr can push for more information on the Weasley family they hear several explosions that has both of them rushing towards the Quidditch lockers.

"That was awesome!" Remi cries out just as the two boys arrive at the scene. There are several burn marks across the grass, and Remi Longbottom and Tyler Abbot stand on either end of the pitch, holding the smoking remains of what appear to be several firecrackers, though as they get closer Myr can see that they're slightly different from typical Muggle kind.

"What are you two doing? Aside from the obvious property damage, you could have set something on fire!" Charlie yells at them, his voice loud enough that even Tyler looks up from the other side of the pitch. "What were you thinking?"

"That next game the whole stadium is going to see 'Slytherin Stinks' scrawled across the grass." Remi replies cheekily, and if he squints Myr thinks he can make out the words even from ground level.

He frowns. "Perhaps, but that's not worth possibly killing someone over. And the game might be cancelled because of this." He adds pointedly, his brow furrowing at the thought. He's really been looking forward to the upcoming match against Slytherin and he'd hate if Remi manage to ruin it. Not that he'd be surprised - Remi has a knack for destroying everything he touches.

Remi scoffs, but the approaching Tyler looks nervous.

"Do you think?" He asks. "I mean, no one plays on the ground so it shouldn't matter, right?"

Charlie shrugs. "Who knows? But you obviously didn't stop to actually think this through, did you?"

Tyler looks rather ashamed, but Remi sticks to his guns as always.

"It's just a bit of fun Charlie, I thought you could enjoy something like this. Way to ruin him Myr." He adds pointedly, and Myr just rolls his eyes.

"I had nothing to do with it, Charlie matured all on his own." He replies shortly, as willing to deal with Remi as he ever is, which is not at all.

Remi rolls his eyes in return, and Charlie sighs.

"Well we're going to have to report you two for this, and I expect Slytherin won't be happy either." He grumbles.

Remi is immediately protesting. "You don't have to tell anyone! Nobody is making you! Tyler could get suspended from the team if you tell!"

Myr spots Tyler going pale at the possibility, but he back Charlie up. They should have thought about potential consequences before doing something so reckless.

"And someone could have been killed by your little stunt here, so we kind of do have to report it. Next time maybe stop and actually think before being stupid." He can't help being just a little bit smug, and the flash of fury in Remi's eyes is just a little bit enjoyable.

"He's right. You made the choice, you have to live with the consequences." Charlie adds, shooting Myr a look to tone it down.

Myr shrugs at him, surprised at how unapologetic he feels. Maybe he just has less patience than usual because he's been sleeping next to Remi for over a month now and he's about ready to commit murder for just one day when he doesn't have to come back from dinner to find Remi's things all over his bed.

"We'll get you back!" Remi says threateningly, but Charlie and Myr ignore him as they turn around and head back for the castle.

"Where do you think the teachers would be right now? I just realized we don't really see most of them on weekends." Charlie frowns, and Myr blinks.

"Um, maybe their offices...?" He suggests uncertainly. "Professor McGonagall definitely lives in the castle, so she must be around here somewhere, right?"

The two head to their Head of House's office, and Charlie knocks politely. After a moment, their professor's voice calls them in, and they share relieved looks before pushing open the door.

"Um, hello Professor. We thought you should know that Remi and Tyler vandalized the Quidditch pitch with illegal stuff they bought at Zonko's yesterday." Charlie says politely. "Nothing burned down and no one was hurt, but there is a message scorched into the ground now."

McGonagall raises an eyebrow. "Thank you for informing me Mr. Weasley. I'll see to it the both of them receive proper punishment. What exactly is the message?"

"'Slytherin Stinks'." Myr tells her, and he's surprised to see his usually somber teacher crack a small smile.

"Well they aren't wrong, but it was quite reckless of them to do such a thing. Alright, you may go. Thank you again for informing me of this."

Both boys quickly leave the room, and Charlie is grinning.

"Okay, I have to admit, that felt good. I haven't had many teachers praise me other than Professor Kettleburn." He admits. "I get why Bill likes being a prefect so much."

Myr laughs. "Welcome to my world. Being the good kid isn't so bad after all."

Charlie shoves him lightly with his shoulder. "Yeah yeah, I'm still going to have some fun though. Can't be all rules all the time - then what would your job be?"

"Hey!" But Myr can feel himself grinning. "Fair enough, but without me how many more detentions would you have gotten?"

"Point made. Say, speaking of avoiding detention, wanna hit the library and actually do the Muggle Studies reading? I know Quirrell never checks if we've actually done it, but it's probably worth going through for the exams."

Myr shakes his head with a grin. "Yeah, that would be good. Have you not already been doing that? You've missed out on a whole lot of ridiculous nonsense."

The two boys spend the rest of the afternoon in a quiet corner of the library reading their Muggle Studies textbook, and Myr is quick to point out incorrect assumptions and poorly understood traditions, causing both boys to laugh enough times to bring the wrath of Madame Pince down on them. They manage to not be thrown out of the library, but they do have to struggle to keep their voices down.

They head down to dinner that evening, and are greeted by a glaring Remi, who remains furiously silent throughout the whole meal. Brandon is also noticeably grouchy, and Myr is glad that Evera and Drake have stories of an Exploding Snap game gone very, very wrong to keep the overall mood of the table light.

Remi's stubborn silence ends up being a good thing for Myr, as that night he's able to go through his nightly routine with absolutely no interruption from the other boy, something he hasn't experienced since the start of the year. He falls asleep that night incredibly content, his morning worries a distant fading memory.

A memory that's brought into sharp focus again when he's awoken by a shriek from the common room the next morning.

Myr normally gets to sleep in on Mondays, but his concern wakes him up very quickly, and he stumbles down the stairs along with the rest of the House - and stops dead in his tracks when he sees what caused the commotion.

The entire common room has been turned yellow and black, and most of the students in the room are similarly dyed as well.

"My hair!" One girl sobs, tugging at her black and yellow locks, as a boy stares mournfully at his newly colored textbooks.

Bill Weasley is in the center of the commotion, his usually red hair now Hufflepuff yellow, and when he spots his brother in the stairway he storms over.

"Care to explain what's going on here?" He demands, holding up a black and yellow note, which Charlie takes gingerly from his brother.

"'Consider this a little payback. Next time you keep Cerid out of it.'" Her reads, and then turns to glare at Brandon.

Myr is terrified when he sees the look on the youngest Gryffindor third year's face.

"He wants a war? Fine. He's got a war."

The worst part, Franziska thinks, about Aidan and Brandon getting into a prank war isn't actually the war itself, though it's a close second. The worst part is that Aidan had gotten Saundra Caldwell and her band of disaster makers involved in the initial retaliation prank and now they're off waging their own unprovoked war with the school in general.

It starts when the Ravenclaw's table turns into jelly during dinner on Monday night, and Saundra very loudly takes credit when she exclaims that the charm "wasn't supposed to do that". She of course loses Hufflepuff twenty house points, and Franziska can practically feel the Ravenclaws' scheming their revenge.

Sure enough, the next morning all of Hufflepuff House find themselves swarmed by illusory eagles upon exiting the barrel to the common room, resulting in several people screaming and running for cover from the perceived bombardment, Franziska included.

She talks to Brandon in Ancient Runes after breakfast that day, and his suggestion is to up the anti.

"I could help! I'm a master prankster after all, I'd love to show you the ropes of my craft." He sounds so hopeful that Franziska very nearly takes him up on his offer, but she ultimately shakes her head firmly.

"No, I don't think continuous retaliation is the best answer." She says. "Saundra should have just apologized."

Brandon frowns at her. "It was a harmless prank Badger, and really quite funny. Ravenclaw is just overreacting."

She gets the feeling he's not completely talking about the newest set of pranks, but she doesn't push it. She knows whatever happened between him and Aidan is a sensitive topic for both boys, and she has no interest in being forced to choose sides.

So she just shrugs in response and turns her attention back to Professor Bathsheda, studiously copying down the day's runes and trying to not pay attention to the glare that Brandon is leveling at the back of Aidan's head.

Lunch finds her utterly disappointed when Kiera immediately asks her if she wants in on their planned return prank on Ravenclaw.

"We're already at war with Gryffindor, do we really need to do this?" Franziska questions, but she knows it's pointless. Tonks and Kiera even have charts drawn up of the architecture of the Ravenclaw Tower, with assistance from an equally enthusiastic Leona.

"Oh it's all in good fun Frannie! Lighten up, join the shenanigans!" The young  brunette grins at her. "I hear even my stuck up sister Sarah is getting into the mood, which means the apocalypse is probably approaching, so you may as well enjoy yourself while you can."

"The fact you actively recognize that these are shenanigans and are still partaking in them worries me even more than the pranks." Franziska sighs, and her three roommates laugh at her expense.

She ends up moving seats to sit by Roderik, who seems just as unimpressed by the prank war as she is.

"It isn't always like this, is it?" He questions bitterly. "I can't focus on my homework half the time because my roommates are all trying to think of pranks they could do. We don't know nearly enough magic to even do anything useful yet!"

"There is no such thing as a useful prank." Franziska sighs. "Just less hurtful ones."

Roderik frowns. "Maybe. Could you show me the Levitating Charm's wand movement again? I can't seem to get it right."

Thankfully the rest of the afternoon is calm. Franziska spends her free period after lunch in the library, writing essays and keeping a cautious eye out for anyone looking suspiciously innocent. Then she's off to Muggle Studies, eyes still peeled for trouble.

Professor Quirrell begins the lecture with as firm a warning as the quiet man is capable of.

"Now I know that some of you have gotten the idea to play pranks on the other Houses, and I admit I do like some of the creativity I've seen! But, please, this is class time so please no pranks while in my classroom."

Franziska glances around at her classmates and is relieved to see that no one looks disappointed. Hopefully this means that class time will be off limits for pranks, as she's certain she won't be able to pay proper attention if she's worrying about being hit with a dungbomb.

"Well, then, that's settled. So, um, today we're going to talk more about electricity and it's impact on Muggle living." Professor Quirrell says, clearly relieved that no one had tried to argue with him about the pranks. Franziska thinks if anyone had he likely would have crumbled. As much as she likes the man, Professor Quirrell is not the hardiest of people.

Class passes far faster than Franziska wants, and she's soon back in the treacherous halls, twitching nervously at every sound.

"Calm down Frannie, no one is going to attack you." Leona teases. "You really need to learn how to relax."

Franziska pouts at her miserably. "How can I relax when everyone is breaking school rules and causing general chaos like it's no big deal?"

As if on cue, there's the sound of a massive explosion nearby, and Franziska flinches.

Leona frowns. "Okay, I wasn't expecting that, our plan doesn't start for another twenty minutes." After a moment her grin is back. "Let's go check it out!"

"Let's not." Franziska groans, even as she reluctantly follows her friend towards the sound of destruction.

They emerge in the courtyard to find that the Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch captains engaged in a glaring contest, both consumed by an awful stench.

"What's your problem Kiddell? You can't just throw dungbombs at people with no provocation." Mayra Byrne snaps, and Laurel laughs incredulously.

"No provocation? You're really going to tell me that your players didn't leave a mess of dungbombs in the Gryffindor lockers this morning?"

Mayra's raises her chin defiantly. "You only think that because of the vandalism to the field from this weekend - you think we'd stoop to such petty revenge."

Franziska can't help noticing one of the Slytherin third years lingering in the shadows, watching the fight with a faint smirk, and Franziska gets the feeling that even if Mayra didn't have a hand in the bombing, it probably was a Slytherin who perpetrated it.

Leona's eyes a wide. "Oh man, looks like Slytherin just got pulled into the prank war! That would mean all four Houses are in on it now! That must be a record of some sort!"

Franziska sighs. "It's been two days Leona, this is probably going to have calmed down by the end of the week at the latest. Surely students have better things to be doing with their time than coming up with overly elaborate pranks." She points out.

She is terribly, terribly wrong.

A week and a half later finds her hunkered down in a fifth floor corridor behind a haphazardly erected protection spell.

"This is getting utterly ridiculous." She groans miserably as she deflects yet another bat. The hall is swarming with the stinky critters, and Franziska is just trying to get to Defense at a somewhat reasonable time, though with the endless pranks being activated around the castle daily being late is the new normal for everyone in the school.

Several of the Professors have taken to giving out unusually harsh punishments to anyone caught, in hopes of discouraging people from continuing to partake in the war, but it's only spurred them on, adding an extra layer of challenge to the situation. Worse are the professors that are actively amused by the situation.

And the poor caretaker Argus Filch is struggling to get everything cleaned up even as the castle falls apart around him.

Franziska has helped him a few times with cleanup, and has found that although grouchy, the man is actually quite thankful whenever students don't cause him extra work. She's even earned a few House Points, which she didn't know the caretaker could give.

But it's a very narrow silver lining in what is shaping up to be an unending back-and-forth of revenge pranks around the school. There are several personal grudge matches, as well as the two larger full-House ones, and Franziska is pretty sure some people are just making trouble for the fun of it.

Among the latter group is the perpetrator of her current predicament - Saundra Caldwell.

Franziska likes to think that she doesn't judge people very often, and never without reason. But she's never really like Saundra, and the younger girl really isn't helping her case with her endless disasters.

"Sorry! That wasn't supposed to do that!" The blonde calls unhelpfully from the other end of the corridor. "I'm actually not sure why it's doing this. Eloise, take a note! We'll have to study this further!"

Her ever-present Ravenclaw friend nods excitedly and pulls out a quill and parchment, dutifully scratching down whatever it was they did to summon the hailstorm of bats.

"I'll go get Professor Addington! I bet he can fix it!" Saundra calls. "Peach, go get Professor Addington." She instructs another of her group of friends, and immediately the brunette runs off down the hallway. "Just wait a bit more! Sorry again!" Saundra shouts to her.

Franziska just sighs and swats another bat away from her hair.

Eventually Peach - if that is her name, as Franziska vaguely remembers it being something more like Ella - returns with a clearly frazzled Professor Addington in tow.

Franziska sees the teacher take in the chaos of the hall before sighing and banishing the never ending hoard of bats with a single flick of his wand.

"Ten points from Hufflepuff, and five from Ravenclaw." He sighs. "Franziska, are you alright?"

Franziska brushes off her cloak and stands up. "Yes, I'm fine. Almost used to this sort of this now." She smiles at the Defense professor. "I am sorry it made me late to class, and that you had to be interrupted."

Professor Addington tuts lightly. "Nonsense, I'm glad you're alright. Now let's get back to class, today we're studying boggarts and those will most certainly be on the final exam!"

Franziska smiles tiredly at the professor and follows him back to the class, where she takes the only remaining open seat next to Aidan.

"Your hair is a mess." He informs her with a grin as she settles in, and she levels him with the most vicious glare she's capable of.

"This whole mess is your fault." She replies flatly. "And I am not going to be happy with you until it's over with."

Aidan shrugs. "Alright Ms. Stick-in-the-Mud."

"Aidan, unless you have something to share with the class I ask you stop distracting Ms. Reindhart." Professor Addington says loudly, and the whole class laughs at Aidan's expense, though he chuckles as well.

The rest of class goes smoothly if a bit stiffly as Franziska stubbornly avoids talking to Aidan. When class is over she packs up and joins up with Leona and Jemma as they exit the classroom.

"Hey, what happened? You ran off to use the bathroom and then came in late with your hair a complete disaster." Leona greets casually, and Franziska sighs and fills her friends in on the Saundra incident.

Kiera and Tonks catch up with them as she's talking, and Tonks releases a low whistle when she finishes explaining.

"That girl could really be going places. I mean, yeah, she's being super reckless but how many of us could have summoned a swarm of bats last year?" The metamorphagus says, and Franziska groans.

"No, don't encourage her! And she didn't mean to summon bats. Every time she does something it's usually followed by her or one of her friends saying 'that wasn't supposed to do that'. That isn't impressive, it's seriously concerning. What if they accidentally kill someone someday?" Franziska frets. "I swear one day I'll wake up and be in Ireland or something because they screwed up."

"Valid concerns, valid concerns," Kiera nods. "But Hogwarts probably has magical protections in place, and it's not like the teachers aren't telling her to stop all the time, she just isn't listening. There's only so much you can really do after all."

Franziska grumbles but lets the topic drop. She rather thinks there is plenty more they could be doing on the Saundra front, but with the current ongoing prank war she really is a minor concern at the moment.

No sooner has she had the thought than Tonks is dragging her out of the way of a giant illusion of a snake winding down the corridors and attacking anything that's red or gold.

"Well, that's overkill." Kiera raises an eyebrow at the departing snake's tail.

Leona shakes her head. "Not really. The Gryffindors painted the wall leading to the Slytherin common room with a lion murdering a snake, and then animated it. It took five days to come off." She grins. "I'm sure Franziska knows all about that considering rumor says it was Brandon who masterminded the prank."

Franziska rolls her eyes. "It was one date you guys, and I'm as much talking to him as I am to Aidan right now. They're both being stupid babies and have sent the whole school spiraling into permanent chaos over a petty personal rivalry."

Leona pouts. "No second date then? Who am I supposed to live vicariously through?"

"Can't you just get dates yourself?" Jemma offers with an amused smile, and Leona gags.

"No thank you, boys are gross. I don't care about the dating part, I want the gossip! And everyone knows couples make for the juiciest gossip." Leona says eagerly, and the group of girls roll their eyes.

Kiera pats Leona's shoulder, being unable to reach her head. "Leona, I think you may have a problem. Would you like to talk about it?"

Leona shoves her off with a grin and the other girls laugh as well.

They have the rest of the afternoon free, so the girls agree with Franziska's suggestion to go visit Hagrid for some tea. She's been to see the Gamekeeper several times already during the school year, and she's begun bringing her friends along with. She's found that despite it's small stature Hagrid's hut more than comfortably fits all of them, and the whole group can very often be found there on the weekends.

They spend the rest of the day there, and Franziska is happy for the chance to continue relaxing. Hagrid's hut tend to be a prank-free zone. She's not sure if it's because most people are rather wary of the large gamekeeper or if they just respect his space in a way they don't anywhere else on the school grounds, but it's meant she's been having a lot of tea recently.

Eventually they do have to say goodnight to Hagrid and head back for dinner. Franziska crosses her fingers that maybe they'll avoid running into any pranks before reaching the Great Hall at least.

Of course she'd never be that lucky, and not moments after returning to the castle the group is hit face-first with a pre-set prank.

Covered in goop, Franziska hopes that the war is nearly over. Her nerves can really only take so much.

Rajani has to admit she's kind of enjoying the prank war.

Sure, she's not setting any of the pranks herself, but she can admit she's stood watch and made a few suggestions to the people who are a little more active in the situation. It's all good fun after all, and no one is getting hurt.

Plus she's noticed that Slytherin seems to be on the receiving end some of the nastier pranks, and she figures it's really only fair that they get even. You don't mess with a snake unless you want the fangs after all.

That's how she finds herself on the ground floor of the castle on a Tuesday night, well after curfew, keeping watch for Elspeth and Ed as they rig a series of potions to fall onto Hufflepuffs exiting their dorms. Rajani's excuse should she be caught is that she wanted to grab a snack from the kitchens before heading to Astronomy, as she does have the class in a couple of hours.

"All clear?" Ed checks as he and Elspeth hurry back over, grinning wickedly, and Rajani nods with a return smile.

"All clear. If I can ask, what prompted this prank? I'd thought Hufflepuff and Slytherin weren't fighting yet." She observes quietly as the three sneak back towards the dungeons.

"Hunter Vaughan." Ed replies flatly. "Currently seventh year prefect and a right prat, always bossing around the fifth and sixth years as if he's Head Boy. I figured he could use some humiliation."

Rajani frowns. "But... this will probably not even hit him." She points out. Sure she'd gone along with the prank - it's an awesome idea and honestly she's excited to see the results - but at the same time she's starting to worry now that it may affect her secret Hufflepuff friend Donaghan Tremlett.

She and Donaghan have met up a few times so far during the year, mainly to study potions though a few of their meetings simply led to talking about their lives and classes in general. They're both taking Ancient Runes as well so they occasionally struggle through some translations if they get through potions quickly, though Rajani usually does that with Queenie and Finn - the other two Slytherins in the class - in their common room after dinner.

Ed shrugs cheerfully. "Eh, we're the only ones not fighting Hufflepuff anyway, where's the harm? The war is all in good fun really."

Elspeth rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything, and Rajani doesn't push though she's curious as to her quiet roommate's opinion on the situation. Elspeth has been one of the most active Slytherins in the prank war and Rajani doesn't want to drive her roommate back into her shell when she's only just starting to peek out of it.

The three only just make it to the common room entrance, narrowly avoiding a couple of prefects on their rounds, and they slide in, tossing the customary glares at the vandalism still sitting, half-faded but still discernible, on the entrance.

"Well that was a rush." Ed grins and offers both girls a high-five, though only Rajani obliges him. "Anyway, you two act innocent and I've got to get ready for my rounds. Have fun in astronomy." He waves and then hurries towards the dorms to presumably get his prefect badge.

"There you two are. And was that Ed? What were you-" Nia interrupts herself when she figures it out, and she grins. "Never mind. You didn't get caught, right?"

Elspeth and Rajani shake their heads, and Nia grins.

"Who'd you hit? Do we get to see the results? Details! Share! Now!"

"We have to go to class in ten minutes, they shouldn't talk about it where they could be overheard by non-Slytherins." Lenox points out. Rajani hadn't noticed her friend sitting on the couches, but he doesn't look very happy and she wonders if she'd done something. Normally he'd have greeted them along with Nia and Clary, who's standing next to the other girl and looking quite disappointed that prank stories will have to wait.

"Lenox is right." Queenie says decisively, "You can tell us later. For now we ought to be heading for class."

Of all her friends, Queenie is the least amused by the prank war, having often pointed out the complete needlessness of the entire situation. The counter she always gets is that it's not about having a point, it's about having fun.

And Rajani at least is having plenty of fun, so she has to side against her best friend on this one.

They head up to astronomy as a group, running into a prefect patrol on the way. Rajani has to share an eye roll with Queenie at the suspicious looks they get from the two sixth years. They're allowed to be out to go to class, but the green on their cloaks makes them immediately suspect. Rajani can't help but snort when Clary fires off a tripping spell at the guy when he's not looking.

"Don't be so obvious next time." Is Queenie's only rebuke, and Clary gives a Cheshire grin in response.

Class goes by rather slowly for Rajani's taste, but the hour eventually ends, their star charts are handed to Professor Sinestra, and they quickly make their way back down the Astronomy Tower and to the dungeons.

Rajani is honestly exhausted, but she has a sleep in the next morning so she stays up to fill the others in on the prank she'd assisted in setting up, with details filled in by a rather proud Elspeth. If all goes according to plan, the Hufflepuffs will smell like wet fur for most of the day unless they have spare robes, though even then their hair and skin won't clear up for a set amount of time.

Rajani lets Elspeth go over the exact formula she'd used for the potions as she showers and falls into bed. She's worried the others' conversation might keep her up, but she's fast asleep within a few minutes.

The next morning she ends up waking up at a normal time despite the sleep in and her own exhaustion when she'd fallen asleep, so she decides to go to breakfast with the rest of her House and see how the prank had gone.

One thing the trio hadn't properly thought through, that she realizes as soon as she walks into the Great Hall, is that smell travels.

"Oh gag. Well, we know the prank worked." Clary makes a face and delicately plugs her nose. "I'm not sure how I'm going to eat with this stench lingering in the air."

Rajani feels her stomach roll and she thinks she might delay eating until the Hufflepuffs have evacuated the premises. The entirety of the great hall smells of wet fur and manure, and Rajani can see quite a few irritated and rather ill-looking students sitting at the Hufflepuff table table.

Among them is the actual intended target, Hunter Vaughan, which Rajani can't help but smirk at a bit, but then she notes that one of the other victims is Donaghan, because naturally her luck couldn't hold out forever.

She resolves to apologize to him as soon as she's able, but for the time being she escapes back to the Slytherin common room with Queenie and Eugene, who both have the same sleep in that she does.

"Well, that was both a victory and pretty gross. At least both Elspeth and Ed also have to suffer with the rest of us." Queenie laughs as they approach the Dungeons. All three glare at the graffiti as they pass it, though Rajani honestly barely registers that she's done so as the wall closes behind them.

"We don't really have to suffer actually." Eugene notes thoughtfully. "How long does that stuff have until it wears off?"

"Should be gone a little after lunch time." Rajani recalls. "You're right, we don't see any Hufflepuffs until Ancient Runes this afternoon, and the smell should be gone by then." She grins over at her friends. "Curse dodged then."

"This is just going to encourage you isn't it?" Queenie notes with clear amusement.

Rajani shrugs as innocently as she can manage. "Well there is a war on yon know." She replies, and Eugene laughs.

The three go to breakfast late, along with Cadfael and Alasdair, both of whom had actually used the sleep in to sleep are are rather put off by the lingering stench in the Great Hall.

Cadfael and Alasdair sit well down the table from Rajani and her friends, which suits Rajani just fine. She and Cad have had an icy relationship since she'd accidentally gotten him detention the year before, but she refuses to feel bad about it. If he didn't want to get in trouble he shouldn't have left the dorms in the first place after all.

Breakfast is a rather calm affair, with more focus put on swallowing and breathing in as little as possible rather than talking. Eventually the five third years head for Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws and a blessedly clean classroom.

Queenie and Eugene naturally sit together, so Rajani claims the seat next to Elspeth, who despite having to deal with the awful smell all morning seems quite chipper.

"It worked like a dream!" She whispers to Rajani as the latter settles into the seat. "We hit even more Hufflepuffs than I expected!"

Rajani can't help but grin at her roommates' enthusiasm. As messy as the prank ended up it's worth it if it can get the usually somber and bitter Elspeth to smile.

"It did go pretty smoothly." She agrees with a small smile.

They don't get to talk much after that, as Professor McGonagall is quite strict on full attention being given in her classes, with points being deducted heavily for anything that can be classified as goofing off. However, as soon as class is over Elspeth begins talking again, her voice low and her eyes skittering suspiciously towards the Ravenclaws.

"So I'm thinking we can hit Gryffindor with something similar, but it makes their clothes disappear instead!" She whispers eagerly. "I've looked into how that would work and I think Zonko's has something we could use. We'd need to sneak out of the castle of course, since Hogsmeade trips are being banned until the war stops."

Rajani hesitates. "Couldn't we just turn their clothes silver and green or something? Making them vanish seems like it's a bit much. And could potentially backfire in some pretty bad ways." She points out uncertainly.

Elspeth frowns. "It's just Gryffindors." She replies. "But fine, you don't have to help. I'll ask Ed."

Rajani hesitates again, but then sighs. "No, it's fine, I'll stand watch. You'll need someone to get you out of trouble if you're caught, and Ed is terrible at that."

Elspeth grins. "Great, I knew we could count on you!"

"Wait, you did this Raj?"

Rajani freezes at the all too familiar voice behind her. She'd of course known she'd be seeing Donaghan in Ancient Runes later in the afternoon, but she hadn't really been intending on him knowing about her part in the prank that has him currently stinking up the hallway, nor had she expected him to confront her on anything in front of their classmates.

Two of his Hufflepuff friends are standing behind him, one looking bored and the other distinctly confused. A quick glance towards Elspeth finds her staring at Donaghan like a cornered animal, ready to lash out at the slightest provocation.

Rajani chews at her lower lip. "It's just a prank, it will wear off in a couple of hours."

Donaghan blows out an angry breath. "You know I've been defending Slytherin all day? Saying you guys had no reason to make such a broad attack on our House? What the heck Raj?"

Rajani has always had an inkling that Donaghan isn't the type to anger very loudly, but his quiet hurt is somehow worse than if he'd been yelling.

"It's a prank war Donaghan, no one has reasons anymore."

"You think you all would be more careful though!" He snaps, and Rajani feels rage flash through her veins.

"Why? Because we're Slytherin? Because we're naturally evil and shouldn't get to have the same sort of fun as the rest of you because it's so much worse if it comes from us somehow?" She fires back, and beside her she sees Elspeth stepping forward.

"Why don't you just back off and leave us alone. If you can't handle a prank you definitely can't handle me when I'm mad." She hisses angrily, and after a moment Donaghan deflates.

"Fine. Sorry to bother you." He says bitterly. "We're leaving."

His two friends follow him as he walks away from the two girls, leaving them alone in the hallway.

Elspeth makes a face. "Great choice of friend there." She notes flatly. "Any other nasty surprises you wanted to get out of the way?"

Rajani isn't sure if the tone indicates that Elspeth might be closing up again, and she finds herself shaking her head almost frantically. "No way. And if he's going to be like that about a stupid prank he obviously wasn't worth keeping around, even if he was decent to study with."

Elspeth nods, and then uncertainly pats her shoulder. "People are real presumptive jerks just because of which House we're in." She states solemnly. "So you still in to hit the Gryffindors?"

Rajani nods firmly. "More than ever. And actually, do you think you could show me how to do it? I figure if I'm getting blamed anyway, I want to actually have a hand in the fun stuff."

Elspeth actually grins at the comment, and Rajani idly thinks maybe she should do that more. "Alright! I can't say out here, but come talk to me tonight in the dorms, I'll give you a full rundown."

Rajani nods firmly and the two girls have to hurry to make it to Herbology in time, though they do lose ten points for cutting it disruptively close.

"Hey, what happened back there?" Queenie asks quietly as Rajani stands in the open space next to her best friend. "I thought I heard arguing but Nia told us Elspeth is good at ending those and not to get involved. But is everything alright?"

Rajani opens , then suddenly feels close up. No, she probably isn't alright. She had actually really liked being friends with Donaghan, but she realized now that Nia had been right about making friends outside of the House. It just isn't possible - people always make assumptions regardless of who she actually is just because of her House.

"Raj?" Queenie looks worried, and Rajani pushes on a smile.

"I'm fine, really. Just learned the hard way why Slytherins have to have each other's backs is all."

Queenie frowns slightly, but doesn't push and Rajani is glad. She'll tell Queenie the full story someday, but right now she still needs to process it all herself.

What she does know is that she needs to do more to have her friends' backs. After all, no one else is going to have them.

Aside from the obvious juvenility of the entire situation, Ana finds it's rather easy to just ignore the ongoing prank war altogether. So long as her protective spells hold up, and they only failed once (and wasn't that the worst Wednesday in the history of her life), she's content to continue on with her life and only take note of the chaos around her if she's actually impressed by a prank.

Generally the ones that catch her attention are from Ravenclaws, so she usually gets to ask the mastermind behind them about their methodology. She's learned some very interesting spells and potions that could be used defensively if she ever finds herself in a situation that might require it.

Otherwise, Ana is just hoping that the whole thing will be over by the thirty-first so she can spend her fourteenth birthday in peace.

At least, she thinks to herself rather bitterly as she gets dressed on Monday the week of, her period will be over by then, if nothing else.

She'd started 'becoming a woman', as her mother delicately put it, at the end of the summer. And ever since it has been a right nightmare to deal with.

She at least has it somewhat scheduled, so she knows that since she'd started today she'll be done by Thursday, and thus be free for her birthday.

And even luckier she has older female friends who have been life savers on several occasions. Josie especially has proved a fountain of convenient products since Ana is still getting used to the extreme annoyance that comes with maturing.

Once she's finished in the bathroom, she erects her usual protection spells and heads down to breakfast, effectively warding off the rain shower of invisible ink pelting everyone exiting the Tower, courtesy of Slytherin if the green stains her less fortunate House mates' cloaks are anything to go by. She's just glad their clothes aren't vanishing completely, a problem Gryffindor had faced the previous day.

Most of the targeted pranks happen right around the entrances of the common rooms, so Ana isn't at all startled by the attack. The real challenge comes from the general pranks, which are scattered all around the school and tend to be activated at the most inopportune times.

Still, she manages the rest of the walk to the Great Hall with no surprises, and she lowers her spell guards as she sits next to Eric, who's taken to sitting at their table everyday since the prank war started rather than jumping back and forth between sitting with them and Laurel at the Gryffindor table.

"Good morning." Sarah chirps from across the table. For being Head Girl, she's enjoying the prank war a little too much, even coaching some of the younger Ravenclaws in advanced spells to help them with their pranking. "I see you avoided the snakes' surprise."

"Getting around the pranks isn't exactly difficult if you know how to counter them." Ana replies as she begins filling her plate. "And considering there's always something outside the Tower at the start of the day it's probably the easiest one to avoid."

"Tell that to Ace." Josie grins. "He had to go change."

"Hey, I didn't think we'd pissed anyone off yesterday. Slytherin and Hufflepuff are going at each other and Gryffindor still has to retaliate on Slytherin from yesterday." Horace defends himself, but even he's grinning. "Though I suppose Slytherin never needs a reason to go after someone."

Josie shakes her head in amusement. "How you're a Ravenclaw I'll never know." She teases.

The group drifts into discussing school for a while before the topic returns to the ongoing war, during which Ana speaks up about her own hopes that it will end soon.

"It was perhaps a bit amusing to start, but between exams and Quidditch season approaching I'd say it could get dangerous and could even cause people to fail their exams if we don't wrap it up soon." She observes. "I have a first year I'm tutoring on the weekends and he's not paying attention in classes at all anymore, just trying to think up pranks. And he can't afford to be doing that, his grades were terrible even when he was paying attention."

Sarah nods. "I get that for sure, but the professors aren't sure how to stop the war entirely. For every prankster they punish, five more pop up. I think the only way to end this is for there to be a clear winner. And who knows how long it will take for that to happen."

Ana frowns as the rest of the group nods in agreement with the Head Girl. Eric speaks up again after a moment.

"I'd say of anyone though, Ravenclaw is the House that could pull off a clear victory, if we actually worked together for once. I've always thought this House's biggest failing was the fact we're all a little too resistant to working as a team."

Josie and Hannah both nod in agreement, and Sarah looks contemplative. Horace just looks lost.

"I've never thought that though." He says uncertainly, and Josie snorts.

"You aren't smart enough to sweetheart. Plus you're the rare Ravenclaw with surprisingly good people skills." Josie grins at her boyfriend, who looks uncertain whether to be insulted or flattered.

Ana spends the rest of the day thinking about what Eric had said. She can of course acknowledge that she herself has never been good at making friends, the seventh years and now Aidan notwithstanding, but upon thinking about her year mates she realizes Eric might have a point about the anti-teamwork sentiment in the House. Between her, Evie, and Amelia only the latter has ever tried to be particularly friendly, with very limited success, and of the boys Ana has only really spoken to Shaun, who's really more of a listener than a conversationalist. Fitzwilliam is too flighty, Jerome too distractable, and Finnigan simply too antisocial, though the latter had made the Quidditch team as a Chaser so she wonders if he may come out of his shell more in the future.

She also thinks about what Josie had said about lacking social skills being specifically a Ravenclaw trait, and wonders if that had somehow drawn her to the House without her realizing it. She's seen how close the Slytherins are with one another, and she can't imagine ever being that friendly with that many people.

Her musings are interrupted by a flying canary attempting to attack her. She deftly transfigures it into a brick for one of the professors to deal with later and shakes off her contemplations in favor of mentally going over her Arithmancy notes from the previous week.

The rest of the week passes much as the first one had, at least until Wednesday evening. Ana had been studying in a corner of the Ravenclaw common room when Sarah Poole rushed in, grinning in a way that immediately put Ana's guard up.

Sarah tapped her wand twice against the wall and then pressed it to her jugular. "Attention all Ravenclaws! We will be having a mandatory House meeting at twenty o'clock tonight, just after dinner. Do not be late, and tell any Ravenclaw who isn't here right now as there will be attendance taken. That is all, apologies for the interruption."

Ana doesn't think Sarah is sorry at all, but she is curious enough to go check if Amelia and Evie are in their dorm room, or if she'll have to tell them later about the meeting. Their shared dorm room is empty, but as she reenters the common room she runs into Shaun just as he enters.

"Hey, meeting tonight in the common room, all House members have to be there." She tells him briskly. "You should check if your roommates are here, otherwise you'll have to tell them later.

Shaun looks surprised, then shrugs. "Alright, I'll tell them. I actually know where Amelia is right now so I can go tell her as well. Do you know what the meeting is about?"

Ana shrugs. "Knowing Sarah? It could be absolutely anything."

That night at dinner, Ana makes a pit stop next to where the rest of her year sit together to inform Amelia and Evie, the latter of whom makes a point to ignore her, of the impending meeting.

"Shaun mentioned it earlier, but thanks." Amelia smiles a bit shyly. "Hey, uh, did you want to sit with us tonight? I was hoping to go over that theory we talked about in Arithmancy, you seemed to really understand it."

Ana is honestly surprised by the invite. She and Amelia have been talking a bit more this year than they have in the past two, and she's always had something of a rapport with Shaun, but she knows next to nothing about the rest of her year mates other than the fact Evie hates her and is generally a trouble magnet.

She glances at Evie once, and then shakes her head. "The seventh years will be expecting me. I'd be happy to talk to you about Arithmancy tomorrow though. I have a free block after History tomorrow morning?"

Amelia nods. "That works. Meet me in the Clock Tower Courtyard? I know a good, quiet study area."

That piques Ana's interest. As much as she loves her corner of the library it does get crowded during exams, so it would be nice to have other options available to her.

So she agrees to the study session and then turns to sit with her usual group.

The seventh years greet her somewhat distractedly, and Ana soon realizes that they're quite focused on attempting to make Sarah share whatever it is her full-House meeting is going to be about.

For her part the Head Girl is staying resolutely silent on the matter, and eventually the group gives up and talk NEWTs for about thirty minutes before dinner wraps up and the whole of Ravenclaw make their way into the common room.

Ana manages to snag a seat on the topmost step into the girls' dormitory that still allows her a view of the common room, meaning that despite the heavy crowding in the common room she's not caught in the center of it.

Sarah stands by the doorway, and she waves her hand for silence as she presses her wand to . "Okay, can every one hear me? Good. So let me get right to the point: who here wants to win the prank war?"

Ana is pretty sure she goes temporarily deaf from the shouting Sarah gets in response to that comment, and the Head Girl grins.

"Great, because I know exactly how we're going to do it. And I'm going to need everyone onboard and knowing exactly what their roll is for us to pull this off, so listen up."

Ana has to admit, Sarah's idea is rather inspired, and wonderfully complex. The one downside is that each year has to work as a team to accomplish their parts, which Sarah gave only rough guidelines for, stating that they'd know themselves who would be best for which roles.

Thus, Sarah and Amelia's quiet study session ends up hijacked by the entire third year class. Even a distinctly irritated-looking Finnigan is sitting on one of the rocks by the lake, eyeing his classmates warily.

"Okay! So I didn't totally get the whole plan but I know there was a distraction part! I could do that!" Jerome is the first to break the almost awkward silence, and also seems to be the only one utterly oblivious to said awkwardness.

Ana sighs. "Sounds about right to me. I think Evie should help with that, she's a walking distraction honestly."

"Hey! Just because you don't like me-"

Ana waves a hand distractedly. She's almost done with her period, but she still finds that she has even less patience for her roommate than normal, a common monthly side effect. "Nothing to do with that. Things tend to explode or generally screw up in your vicinity. Therefore, you are literally a walking distraction. Between that and Jerome's attempts to help being counterproductive you two will have the prefects running circles for hours."

The rest of the group nods in agreement, leaving Evie no real room to argue. So she grumpily nods and slouches back on the ground.

"Ana, I think you, Amelia, and Finnigan ought to be the ones assisting the seventh years." Shaun observes quietly. "Fitz and I can stand guard."

Ana nods briskly, trusting that Shaun knows what he's talking about and also not wanting to have to spend any more time with the group that strictly necessary. "Sounds like a plan. Well then, I'll see you all tonight for Astronomy then." With that she excuses herself, not wanting to have to awkwardly wait for everyone else to leave, and telling herself she'll help Amelia the next day with Arithmancy.

That evening, after a successful day of ignoring her classmates (except for talking with Aidan in Arithmancy), Ana braces herself to head up to Astronomy. The entire Ravenclaw class has been buzzing for most of the day, an a majority of the plan has already been set into motion. Their class, along with the sixth and seventh years, are involved in the final stages of the prank, and the nerves have clearly been eating at her year mates since they all look extremely nervous.

"Everyone just stick to the plan. And stay focused in class, we don't want Professor Sinestra picking up on any suspicious behavior." Ana reminds the group as they traipse towards the Astronomy Tower.

Class passes agonizingly slowly, especially as Fitzwilliam turns out to be terrible at faking innocence, so the rest of the class spends more time covering for his stuttering than actually paying attention to the lesson. However, they manage to survive it and finally get their part of the plan rolling. The seven students sneak down the Astronomy Tower stairs, but instead of heading for their dorms, they go down to the Great Hall, with Jerome and Evie splitting off to provide the needed distraction.

They meet with the seventh years at the arranged point outside the Great Hall, and the third year guards are joined by Eric and Hannah. They follow Sarah's directions exactly, and the whole group slips back to the common room, where they're joined by Evie and Jerome about twenty minutes later, both of whom have new detentions but confirm the distraction went perfectly.

From there it's just a matter of waiting. And Ana finds the anticipation of the event makes her birthday the best one she's had since arriving at Hogwarts. The whole school is tense, as everyone has somewhat picked up that Ravenclaw has something planned. However, it isn't until the Halloween Feast that night that they finally learn what's coming.

Everyone has just settled in to eat their food, when the sixth years enact the final part of the plan. And with a few flicks of their wands beneath the tables, every other House finds themselves drenched in their own meals at the tables erupt in a volcano of food.

At the Ravenclaw table, Ana grins and digs into her meal as the chaos unfolds around them. Definitely the best birthday since getting to Hogwarts.